We’ve since seen a change in government, with
Boris Johnson winning the Tory leadership race, and thus a potential change to
the post-Brexit immigration system, which remains unclear. The new PM
commissioned a report by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) analysing the
Australian points-based visa system, but has also suggested that the UK would
be keeping their current Tier system by promising a fast-track process for theExceptional
Talent (Tier 1) visas.

Home Secretary Priti Patel has been urged to
increase the salary threshold to £36,700 in areport written byThe
Centre for Social Justice, under claim of protecting low-earning UK
citizens. The think tank recognised that certain sectors could be exempt, such
as the NHS.

However, there are arguments that stricter
immigration does not help protect the more vulnerable, and depriving a sector
from growing because of lack of talent reduces jobs available, for both UK and
foreign citizens. According to the data collected so far, more than half of
respondents think Brexit will contribute to an increase in machinist vacancies,
which is worrying considering that respondents
have cited up to 30 machinist vacancies.

The garment manufacturing sector holds huge
growth potential, and the consensus is that access to talent is the most
significant factor holding back growth. In the meeting, Kate HIlls CEO and
Founder of Make it British, noted that garment manufacturing has been the only
manufacturing sector to show positive growth in the past year.

More than a third of the respondents claimed
that their businesses are not producing at capacity, indicating room for
growth. However, around 8 out of 10
respondents think that the UK does not have sufficient skills to recruit from.
The question becomes where to recruit from, as training a skilled machinist and
setting up training centres takes years to show results. A short-term solution
is to draw on the pool of talented and eager EEA citizens.

More
than 80% of respondents employ 0 non-EEA workers as machinists – a potential reason being a lack of access to working visas. If
EEA movement were to be restricted post-Brexit, there is a potential that the
vacancies will not be filled by EEA citizens and remain empty.

As well as the salary threshold, theGeneral
Work (Tier 2) visa has a skill threshold, currently at RQF 6
(degree-level). Currently, machinists are considered to be low-skilled – which
shows a lack of understanding from government. None of the people surveyed considered machinists to be low skilled,
81% thought they classify as high skilled and the rest as medium-skilled.
There is a clear discrepancy between what policy makers and industry, which is
why this data is so important.

It is clear that current immigration policies
to not recognise the value and features of the garment manufacturing sector,
and for the sector to maintain its recent growth, they need to be considered.